There are two worlds within Hampi. While we enjoyed the ancient ruins and heritage sites to the south of the Thungabadhra river, a trip to Hampi is not complete without crossing the river and exploring the north side popularly known as ‘Hippie Island’. A rather quiet place with lush green agricultural fields, cottages and cafes. With our sunrise plans nipped in the bud we slept peacefully till 8. Craving for some coffee and breakfast, I decided to take a stroll outside. I walked around 200m from our cottage to reach a village centre of sorts. There was a one-man dosa shop/cart where a guy was selling out hot dosas along with some creamy chutney and potato masala. I had two Dosas and a spiced Chai from the shop and decided to head back to our cottage where the others were still asleep. As I walked backed to the cottage, I did pause for a second to appreciate the beauty of the place. I was walking through a tarred road with lush green fields on both sides. The morning sun had lighted up the fields in golden yellow whereas the boulders hills in the background provided a fitting contrast to the scenery. It’s funny I didn’t notice any of this on my way towards the shop. A good meal does change one’s perspective.
Back at the hotel, it was a race against time to meet our check out time at 10:00 AM. In the end, we managed to vacate the place only by 10:30. We stared our day without any clear plan in mind. There’s much to see and do in Hippie island. Anjaneya Hills, a hill believed to be the birthplace of Lord Hanuman was nearby. A relatively easy hike along steps promised a good view of the land, but the thought of climbing the steps in the middle of the day pushed us to look for other options. Sanapur lake was the next best option, originally designed as an irrigation reservoir, the place had turned into a tourist hotspot with activities like ‘coracle ride’ and ‘cliff jumping’. But before we could start, the others were yet to have breakfast, so we started hunting for one of the famed cafes in the Island. Nandu and Pro led us to a street that they visited last night while buying the beers. A narrow street with a couple of cafes and handicraft shops bustling with foreigners living the famed Hampi Hippie life. From the Jewish signages on the shops we understood most of the visitors were from Israel. We went into a small cafe at the start of the road. Though small in size the cafe boasted a lengthy menu that would put multi cuisine restaurants to shame. We decided to test the diversity of the offering by ordering everything from pancakes to dosas to omelette. The food took forever to arrive, but when in Hippie island you do not complain about time. The place demanded us to slow down and live easily. In the end, the food was worth the wait. For the first time in the trip I fully finished everything I ordered.
Outside our cafe, we chanced upon a shop selling some unique Hampi clothing. T-shirts and loose pyjamas with elaborate patterns and ‘om’ symbols, the kind foreigners wear while touring pilgrimage sites in India. We spent a good amount of time trying out various combinations before deciding to roll out and continue our exploration of Hippie Island, dressed as Hippies.
We decided to go to Sanapur lake next. Travelling through some narrow roads we reached the peaceful Sanapur lake/reservoir. The cliff jumping and coracle ride would probably have been at a different location as we saw neither. Nevertheless we found a peaceful place with large boulders and a really good view overlooking the shore. We spent a good deal of time here mostly just absorbing the calmness. The trip was coming to an end. It was a short trip, an unplanned one, yet it was very full-filling. There were more places to explore and more adventures to experience, but this trip was never about checking out boxes.
We started back to Bangalore around 3 in the afternoon. Nandu and Pro again took turns driving while we mostly just relied on signboards for navigation. Apart from the short stops for lunch and tea our journey was continuous. Somewhere along the way we started a game of Anthakshiri, though peaceful at first, the game turned competitive real quickly. We ended up singing all the way till Bangalore before declaring the game as a draw. We reached our flat around 10 at night. It was a weekend done right, yet it was not over yet. Nandakrishnan had his birthday the next day. We invited Pillechan over and had a small cake cutting. We stayed up talking about the trip and discussing about birthdays and ageing up. The discussions somehow ended up with Ed Sheeran and Thinking Out Loud. That’s when we finally decided to call it a night and crash on our beds.
Read.Reflect.Repeat 